Woolly Hats and Rainbows part 2

And so to lack of blogging.

It’s been a funny couple of months, with friends coming on and off the Island, some on leave, others at end of contract and a few who have decided to go early. This makes to a very busy social period – dinners with friend going on leave – after all they will be away for almost 3 months, leaving do’s for those at end on contract or heading home, plus invitations for relatively new people and some that we know very well.

The working week usually finishes with meeting friends around 16.00 in either the Mule Yard or Donny’s for a well-earned end of week drink and catch-up for a couple of hours. Sometimes we grab something to eat at Get Carters (who operate on a Friday evening and Saturday – as they work elsewhere full-time in the week). However, it is important to note for newcomers – fast food isn’t – fast that is! Anywhere. No MacDonald’s. Burger King or KFC here or any other food chain. There are no speciality restaurants, apart from one Chinese in Jamestown – booking essential, or else they may not open!

A Saint was telling me yesterday that some visitors had gone out on Sunday and did not find anywhere open to eat – this is common, so be prepared.

So this last weekend, we were at Donny’s for a couple of hours on Friday after work, then back down in town for Boot Camp at 8 am Saturday morning. This was followed by a quick sandwich in Half Tree Hollow on the way home. In the afternoon, we had been invited to a BBQ and spent a very pleasant few hours in great company. On Sunday we called round to help a friend with the internet and ended up having an impromptu Sunday lunch, where we pretty much remained until the early evening. At 3pm, Andy had taken Henry to football, then collected him a few hours later. Crystal Rangers celebrated their first ever WIN, coming back from 5-1 down at half time to win 6-5 – the team were ecstatic and quite rightly so. So when Henry returned, our hosts very graciously reheated their leftovers to provide Henry with a slap up celebratory lunch – thank you Nicola and Stephen.

Whilst not every weekend is as hectic as this, it doesn’t slow down much! This coming weekend, the boys are going sea fishing on Saturday. Boot Camp will be calling me  early on Saturday and some friends have a market stall selling ‘stuff’ as they are leaving soon. The following weekend there are several ‘leaving do’s’ and a few friends are also returning after leave, so more get-togethers  to come.

Time for a rest I think and in 9 weeks we will begin our journey back to the UK for some well-earned leave 

Twenty-Six Years On

So what was I doing today, 26 years ago? Getting married to my gorgeous husband Andy! We didn’t know what the future held for us but here we are still together and happy more than a quarter of a century later with having created three boys. The fact that one of them is no longer with us is a stark reminder of how strong we have been as a family over the years. We have laughed and cried together and had each other to lean on in times of sadness.

George and Henry have grown to be strong, handsome, well-balanced young men who are both starting to forge their own ways in life and who knows what theirs will look like. As with any parent, I wish them both a long and very happy life and hope they take advantage of the opportunities that come their way.

Of course this time last year we were celebrating our Silver wedding anniversary and we had a party jointly with Deanna Woosey who turned 18 in the same week. And in a few more weeks we will have been living on this beautiful island for 2 years. It really doesn't seem possible. So in a few months’ time we will have to start looking for employment elsewhere. Who knows where that search will take us? What I do know is that we will be together wherever ‘there’ is!

What to Bring

I’ve been speaking this week to someone who has just been offered a job on the Island. She got in touch with me through this Blog – Fantastic as that is exactly the purpose of me wittering on giving an ex-pats honest overview of life on St Helena.
It made me review the ‘Country Notes’ which are sent to new recruits to see if anything had changed. In fact, it had been a year since I last reviewed them and changes had happened – some of them quite significant and worthy of a mention for people thinking about employment here.
There are now 15 TV channels. Please don’t get too excited, unless you love sport as half the channels are sport channels. Others are National Geographic, BBC Lifestyle, Discovery Channel, MNet (South African rebroadcast) MNet Movies – Premiere, Drama and Romance, Action. Cartoon network and Disney also feature. You can download a TV guide here http://www.sure.co.sh/page16.html
The first thing you will notice is that programmes are on at bizarre times of day and night. For example if you wanted to watch X-Factor UK (just being screened here for the first time) you would have to watch it at 8am on Saturday morning, EastEnders (3 or so weeks behind) is on at 3am and 3 pm, so you start to appreciate the importance of bringing a VCR or DVD recorder to the Island - we also brought a Media Streamer (ACRyan) on which we pre-loaded all our DVD movies before leaving the UK – we now have around 2 TB worth. The TV programmes are mercilessly repeated and are generally quite dated, with a few more up-to-date programmes interspersed. It is quite expensive too in comparison to what you can get for your pound elsewhere. As at November 2014 we pay £36.30 per month. This amount is beyond the reach of many locals who hire DVD’s cheaply from shops in town as an alternative to the TV package.
This brings us nicely on to Communications in general. Telephone line rental is cheap at £5 a month. Local calls are reasonable too. Calls to the UK are expensive, currently £0.86 per minute (£0.99 Rest of the World) Skype and FaceTime etc are possible, but do eat into your data allowance, as does the use of anything wireless.
So to internet. If you think you ever had a slow/bad connection in the UK/Rest of the World – think again! St Helena Island is reliant on one tiny satellite link for her bandwidth and at peak times it can be dire, almost resembling dial-up! You pay through the nose here too. Most ex-pats struggle to stay within the download limit of the Gold package (£97 per month for 6.5Gb max download at a maximum connection speed of 1.5Mb) and opt for Gold Plus (£190 per month for 13.25Gb max download at 1.5Mb connection) Beware of going over though. Someone recently went over their allowance on Gold by 5GB and it cost £450. Even on the top package, we have sometimes gone over a little. We tend to save our data for talking to friends and relatives, but if you have teenage children (as we have) using wireless applications on mobile phones can kill your allowance – we also turned off all automatic updates so we can control when they happen. More recently SURE has introduced unlimited downloads between 12 midnight and 6am, which helps.
Things we brought that we wouldn’t be without : Goes without saying – our dogs, but materially – I am very pleased we brought our super-king sized bed – not because I don’t like sleeping close to Andy, but because we are used to the comfort of it. And at £3,000 new it was an investment that needed to travel. We didn’t bring white goods, but I have since bought on Island a chest freezer and have shipped a tall fridge out too. Depending on the size of your household, you will refrigerate and freeze so much more than in the UK, particularly fruit and vegetables. We bought dog food with us (Bakers Complete type large sacks) You can get dog food on the Island, but it’s probably not what your dog is used to! We brought out Advocate (which ran out fast!) and is not available here although a lesser version (Fiprotec) is. We also brought things like rugs - framed pictures and things that make your home comfy too!

Other things go without saying but:
Crockery,Cutlery,Knife Block,Kitchen utensils,Saucepans,Frying pan,Baking tins and trays, microwave, slow cooker, toaster, kettle, mixer,deep fat fryer, steamer, duvet, bedding, pillows, throws, vacuum, dustpan and brush, DIY tools, etc
Other than that, I ‘Tesco shop’ on line once a quarter approximately for the things I really need (to be honest there’s not much that I can’t live without and in fact have done so quite admirably so far)
So what have I ordered? Nothing earth shattering – my favourite fabric softener, Tesco own yeast extract which I find much nicer than Marmite! Quavers, Xmas chocolates, Xmas pudding, a few bottles of wine (expensive to import, BUT you get what you like to drink.) Dog treats and a couple of breakfast cereals that we don’t see here often. It was delivered for shipping on 9th October. I am expecting it to arrive on or around 8th December with any luck. Hopefully most will still be within its sell by date! If it missed that ship, it won’t get here until sometime in January so fingers crossed.

Remembrance Sunday 2014

The spring weather has been late to arrive this year and I wondered if Remembrance Sunday would be a damp squib, but on the morning the sun was shining as we made our way into Jamestown to be part of the service at the Cenotaph on the quayside.
We arrived early (required in order to find a parking space!) We were delighted to find the Coffee Shop open and sat in the sun drinking St Helena coffee and chatting with friends.
The parade started early and we were soon bustling through the crowds to get a good vantage point for the ceremony. Various uniformed groups marched down to the Cenotaph and soon the Acting Governor Mr Sean Burns and his wife Marina arrived to start the service.
As before, the service was respectful and moving, culminating in a parade past dignitaries who received the salute on the Court House steps! All in keeping with local tradition.


Speaking to some locals afterwards, they told me that the weather is ALWAYS perfect for Remembrance Sunday and so it was.
The most entertaining part though was the colour of ex-pat faces on Monday morning, where they had not used a strong enough factor sun cream. I advocate using Factor 30 as a minimum and I am not someone who readily burns. The sun is exceptionally strong here even when it isn’t very hot. It got to around 28◦C here on Sunday, which is not hot in comparison to summer here, but you really can’t underestimate the strength of the sun.
Anyway, lots of sunburnt faces on Monday did make me smile :-)

Moving House

It’s been a long time coming. We have been looking for somewhere quiet and suitable for two dogs, including a blind one, for a while. Most ex-pats with animals tend to stay in Chief Secretary Housing (owned and operated by SHG) as they allow pets. Unfortunately there are very few private landlords that permit animals and those that do; the property is not always suitable for disabled ones!


We had pretty much decided to stay at Piccolo Hill where we are settled, have an uninterrupted view of the Barn and Flagstaff and a safe garden for the dogs, but literally a couple of days after our return to the Island in September, the local person in the ‘know’ AKA as ‘Small Change’ got in touch to say he had the perfect place for us. No harm in going to look, we decided and the next day we were introduced to ‘Spring Knoll’, a fairly large imposing house on the opposite side of the Island, located in Scotland! Luckily it’s not as cold as the UK counterpart, but it does rain more than in Longwood. The difference is it rains properly. Longwood spends more of the winter month in cloud, making it damper in that respect.


We love the house and the location and it’s relatively dog friendly (and the landlord is happy with our dogs) Nothing in our world is ever that simple though. The house is pretty much unfurnished – not even a cooker, so having just left our furniture in storage in the UK, we now need it out here. We’d shipped some items from the UK during our holiday, arriving at the end of October, but nothing like we’ll need at the house!
A shopping frenzy ensued with items now en-route from the UK including a 4 piece lounge suite, bedroom and dining furniture, not to mention a cooker, washing machine and curtains! Expensive, but worth it we hope.
I wasn’t going to write about our move yet, but the car-share drive in this morning made me laugh out loud! We often have some hilarious moments on the drive in, recounting events and stories. This time it came from Martin. We were discussing using parental controls on the set-top box (I use that phrase with caution – it’s nothing like TV anywhere else and is very limited)
‘I’ve tried that’ he declared ‘Did you not here about my problems?’ He then started to tell us how he was trying to access the parental control menu, when he accidentally press the wrong button and ended up with Arabic subtitles! That wouldn’t have been too bad, but because he didn’t know how he’d done it, he couldn’t undo it! Having already had to recently call ‘Sure’ out for another TV related issue, he was reluctant to do so again. It took almost a week to remove the subtitles!
This for some strange reason, reminded me of a conversation Andy and I had had the previous evening.
He had been at Spring Knoll, building my new utility room and had been clearing the gutters of debris with Small Change. He brushed against the plumbing waste pipes on the exterior wall, serving the bathroom and toilet. The pipes were not actually fixed to anything – not even each other, so they collapsed like a pack of cards! (Luckily Andy is one of the people who can only see how to make good, so was actually pleased to find it, so it can be sorted!) It makes us laugh how such bodged things actually work quite well until you touch them.
Following Small Change’s inspection of Andy’s plumbing work, both in the utility room and externally, he has declared Andy ‘a qualified St Helenian plumber’

Going Back to Basics Part 2 - Shopping on the Island

Hello to readers in Denmark, Ukraine, Lebanon, Australia, USA, Germany, St Helena, Egypt, Ireland, Channel Islands, South Africa, Brazil, Turkey, Chile (to name a few) as well as the good old United Kingdom! I have been amazed at the places people who read the Blog come from, but you are all very welcome and please feel free to contact me on any aspects of living on St Helena!
Over the last 8 months there have been various road resurfacing projects going on. This has proved a challenge to all affected. The first big re-surfacing project took place along the main road into Jamestown from Longwood/Levelwood/Alarm Forest areas and lasted for 8 weeks. During this time the road was closed to traffic and a long diversion was put in place, where we had to cut across the middle of the Island and enter Jamestown from the west down Ladder Hill – one of the most feared roads on the Island for many!
The diversion started at Gordon’s Post, taking us through the Dungeon, along the W road, past Francis Plain up to White Gate and St Pauls. Joining the ring road on the other side of the Island, we passed through Red Hill, Cleughs Plain dropping into Half Tree Hollow and Ladder Hill before starting the decent into Jamestown via Ladder Hill. Although the journey time (and distance) pretty much doubled for those of us on the other side of the Island, the enforced detour also yielded many positives too.
I am now a confident Ladder Hill driver; both up and down (down is way more tricky!) I discovered a number of shops I’d never visited before, which I still frequent now, several months later.
The next section of road for improvement was Gordon’s Post to Hutts Gate. Another diversion, but much shorter, lasting 6 weeks. The final section affecting Longwood residents was Hutts Gate to Longwood Gate. This was a little more troublesome. There was no diversion as there is no other road! So the road was shut during the day 9 – 3, with a rolling convoy permitted between 12-1. At all other times Longwood residents were either shut in or shut out! But people accepted that the road needed attention and there was no other choice to be made. Again there were advantages from the imposed travel times! Island exploring on a Saturday morning was one! Andy, Henry, Deanna and David dive on a Saturday morning, so Hazel and I usually meander into Jamestown around 10 for a mooch around the shops and coffee. An enforced departure at 9am meant we had a little too much time on our hands, so foraging in other areas became the norm. We became experts in shopping opportunities as well as places to eat and thought it might be something useful to share. I’ve done an earlier blog about shopping so will try not to repeat too much, but will include some details for completeness and to ensure the information is in one place (so sorry if you’ve read it before!)
Shopping – I am going to start at the waterfront (or seaside as it is known) and work up Main Street before entering ‘country’ areas
As you enter Jamestown through the Castle Gates, to the right is Cyril’s shop. Cyril is off Island at the moment so no lovely home-made sausage rolls, pasties or pizza for a while.
• Cyril’s’ is like an old fashioned ‘corner shop’ stocking a variety of everyday items such as tea, coffee, milk, snacks, tinned goods as well as a small selection of shoes and clothes. There was also a small ‘fast food’ takeaway outlet selling battered fish, fish bites, burgers etc attached. Due to Cyril being away, this has been leased to Reggie who has taken over the kitchen and offers a range of ‘fast food’ Reggie also runs a takeaway business out at Bottomwood.
Next shop is Serena’s Gift shop on your left as you wander up Main Street.
• Serena’s is an Aladdin’s cave of items ranging from artificial flowers, make-up, jewellery and torches to St Helena souvenirs such as T-shirts, mugs etc. Well worth a look for something unusual! If you are looking for a torch or a scarf call in.
• Chad’s is next up on the left, next to Essex House and run by Tracy. Chad’s is another small grocery store stocking some more ‘unusual’ items such as Tesco diet coke (500ml bottles) Walkers Quavers (Bags of 12) and today she had Bavaria non-alcoholic lager that I used to drink occasionally in the UK – I’ve not seen it here before. She also has a small selection of clothes and shoes and sometimes has things you just can’t get elsewhere – Like potatoes when there was a recent famine. She also has ‘special offers’ each week which are always good to buy. It is also the cheapest place I’ve found for White Lion rum. Another recent discovery is that through Tracy, I was able to book a taxi home for my son and his friends after midnight. (The availability of taxi’s after 12 at night is a bit of an issue, which I’ll cover another time)

For ease of identification, I’ll continue up the left hand side of Main Street!
• Baseline is next, sharing an entrance to their basement premises (and that of Essence Hair and Beauty Salon) Baseline stocks a range of groceries and fresh fruit and vegetables shortly after the ship has been in. She also sometimes has eggs and often has cans of diet coke (usually cheaper than others)
• The Emporium is next, just after the Consulate Hotel. It’s part of the Thorpe group of shops and I’d describe it as akin to an old ironmongers in the UK – So stocks engine oil, tyres, picture frames, cards (greetings and playing!) stationery, light bulbs, pet care and bathrooms! Meanwhile upstairs you’ll find a range of crockery, glasses and cooking essentials as well as curtains, duvets, material, haberdashery items and shoes. You really do have to go and poke about!

• Sure South Atlantic are next. It’s primarily here where you go to sign up for your (very expensive) internet, TV and/or phone packages. You can find out more about them here www.sure.co.sh . The small shop also stocks some novelty phones and some android tablets. You can also purchase your digital TV box here.
• Moonbeams is a high quality gift shop with a range of locally produced items and souvenirs. The also offer a personalisation service for many products as well as cards and quality gift wrap. More information here www.moonbeamsforall.com
Be prepared for a steepish climb up Napoleon Street until you find the Queen Mary on the left – one of my favourite places for a number of reasons –
• Queen Mary and its sister shop Victoria’s are owned and run by Greg. In a survey I conducted as part of my Master’s degree, they came first for customer service! This is by far the best place on the Island to buy cheese. Whilst not all types are continually available, Greg usually stocks mild, mature and vintage cheddar. It’s not uncommon for Stilton and Gouda to be available too along with Mozarella, so if you like your cheese, make a B-line for either store! They also seasonally have runner beans, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes etc, so always a good place to have a nose around. Apart from that the store (Queen Mary) stocks a range of household goods, stationery, garden and car bits, such as hosepipes, machetes, paint, exhaust repair kits. A good range of tins and packet food such as noodle, rice, soup can be found along with wine, beer, soft drinks and frozen foods.

• Adrian’s is next – we have taken a sharp right down Nosegay Lane and Adrian’s is on the left. Again this is a typical corner shop, offering a range of goods and a great place to get things when others have run out. He often has for example Rose’s Lime Cordial and lemon juice when others don’t and is the cheapest place to buy the 5 litre fruit juice boxes!
As we join Market Street and continue left the first shop is the Bazaar.
• The Bazaar, part of the Solomon’s chain here, is a dedicated shoe store. Don’t get too excited though! Whilst there is a reasonable range, sizing is tricky and the common sizes quickly sell out. If you are desperate though you’ll likely find something that fits!
The Bank of St Helena is next door and somewhere that everyone has to frequent way too often! Living in a cash society has its advantages, such as no unexpected credit card bills, but also means if you run out of money after 3pm on a Friday, it’s a long wait until Monday! The bank has just launched on-line banking and I must say that initially I was quite excited. However, given that the bank want to charge ME to use it - £2.50 a month just to view my statement, plus another £2.50 per month if I want to transfer money locally, plus a setting up fee and to top it all because there are no ATM’s I’d still have to go to the bank to get cash out the advantage to me, the customer, is a big fat zero! So until ATM’s arrive negating the queuing at the bank at least once a week to withdraw cash, I won’t be signing up. It’s also hard to believe that there is a charge at all. Elsewhere in the world the introduction of such exciting technology (which I truly believe in and support) would never attract a charge as the idea is that the Bank saves money through customers self-serving. I worked for Nat West Bank in the good old days and witnessed at first hand the incredible reduction in staffing that was possible once the notion took hold. Perhaps it will be free of charge in the future, but in order to maximise potential savings and improvements, customers need to be persuaded to join with a carrot, not a stick! Rant over…
Last shop on this side of the street that I’ll talk about today is Tinker’s.

• Tinker’s is the place for cut meat. Pretty much the only place to get a selection of meats! The range varies from week to week but typically includes a couple of types of ham, chopped pork, chicken and chilli loaf, pepperoni, salami, streaky and back bacon. All can be purchased by the slice. They also have some cheese available and sometimes eggs. They have freezer foods – mainly meat, but also make and sell frozen Cordon Bleu chicken, pork rib steaklets and chicken nuggets. They also have a reasonable range of ice-cream.
Going Back to Basics Part 3 will cover the other side of the street down to the seafront! I didn’t realise how many shops there actually are!

Urgent Update for Anyone travelling via South Africa with children

If you are following my Blog, you were probably expecting Back to Basics Part 2 - that's on its way. Yesterday 27th June 2014, I received an notification from the HR department here that new legislation had been passed in South Africa and anyone traversing or even arriving and leaving fro the same place with minors (under 18's) can only do so with a FULL birth certificate (that's the one that details the mother and father too)in addition to usual paperwork (passport etc. The legislation comes into effect from 1st July 2014. This revelation filled me with horror! We are leaving the Island for a well earned break in a little over 4 weeks. Henry's 'long' birth certificate is safely stored in the UK. Sometimes it is possible to get things within around 4 weeks - 8-12 is more the norm here. But that is on a wing and a prayer AND if the RMS is at Ascension when the item arrives. The RMS is not calling at Ascension next time around, it is shuttling straight back to Cape Town! I am sure you will appreciate the panic that quickly set in when I realised there was no way I can get Henry's certificate here any time soon and certainly not before we travel to South Africa.
Ever the pragmatist, I Googled the new legislation and found that whilst the legislation has indeed been passed and will be in place when we travel, the South African Authorities will not be enforcing it strictly until 1st October 2014. Henry's almost 18 so it won't apply to us for very long. I will, however, be bringing all our certificates back with me - you just never know. So for anyone planning a visit here or to South Africa - remember even if you are just visiting St Helena via Ascension, all medi-evacs are via Cape Town, bring long birth certificates for anyone under 18, just in case. You can find out more information here on the UK travel advice web-site, which will be changed if legislation changes https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/south-africa
and here from South Africa http://www.southafrica.info/travel/documents/travel-children-110614.htm#.U6585JR_uSo

Going Back to Basics Part 1

In 6 weeks’ time, we will have started our 7 day journey back to the UK. It was this realisation that inspired this ‘Back to Basics’ Blog post.

Having been cocooned on the Island for over a year in pretty much complete isolation, somehow, you forget the military operation and precision required to get to anywhere off island!

Currently there are 2 ways to get to the Island – both entail lots of time plus journeys by sea.

James Bay St Helena Island


In July, we will be leaving James Bay on the RMS St Helena and embarking on a 6 day/ 5 night voyage – I’m going to call it a cruise – which will arrive in Cape Town, South Africa.

RMS St. Helena


We are then spending a night in a nice looking hotel in the V and A Waterfront in the shadow of Table Mountain.

Table Mountain

Of course when travelling to and from the Island via Cape Town there are many other possibilities en route. It’s relatively easy and cost effective to stop off in Mauritius for example – something we will be looking to do on the way out next time.
Its winter here now, so will be winter in Cape Town – even snows sometimes! So we must remember to pack a couple of jumpers and boots too! That also means that the journey is likely to be a tad rough and delays in arriving are not uncommon, but the ship does mainly run to schedule.
We will leave Cape Town late on the following evening and fly back to Heathrow, arriving early on the Thursday morning, 8 days after leaving St Helena. Of course the journey back will take the same time, so that is already over 2 weeks taken in pure travelling time.
So the other route in is via Ascension Island and although slightly quicker, it is fraught with more potential points of failure!
Ascension Island is a military base, occupied by the British and the Americans. As such, only military flights are permitted. The RAF has 2 scheduled flights to the Falkland Islands per week. It is this flight that touches down in Ascension and refuels. As it is primarily military there are only 10 seats allocated to civilians. So If you get one of the precious seats, you then have to try and coincide it with the RMS St Helena calling. There is only one hotel on Ascension (the Obsidian) so again getting accommodation can also be tricky. Once all these hurdles have been overcome, the journey on the ship is only 4 days/3 nights. So you can in theory get there and back in a little over 7 days, providing the ship calls to coincide with flights, which it generally doesn’t!
The days spent on the RMS St Helena are idyllic with a real feel of going back in time. Playing deck quoits or cricket, watching movies in the lounge, letting the ship’s crew entertain you after superb, top quality dining is all part of the experience.

But the whole journey which ever route is chosen is full of adventure and opportunity. Seeing turtles on Ascension Island’s beach or going on safari in South Africa, spending time on the RMS St Helena, visiting one of the world’s remotest islands, seeing the breath-taking scenery first hand, diving in spectacular waters, seeing things you’d never see elsewhere is why we are living on St Helena.

A Change in the Weather

This time last year in my first week on St Helena, it felt positively boiling hot! A year on and having just spent several months basking in temperatures in excess of thirty degrees, there’s definitely a chill in the air (that’s a 22 degree chill!) Typical autumn weather, I guess – bit of a nip in the air first thing in the morning and from late afternoon. During the day, the sun has been out most days and the temperature rises rapidly.

The usually calmness of James Bay, has been replaced by ‘rollers’ and large swells. The waves have been crashing over the waterfront, bringing large stones with them – not the place to park the car at the moment!

Picture by Mark Stevenson - winner of picture competition 2013

The RMS St Helena was in from Cape Town last week and for the first time since I arrived, there was some difficulty disembarking passengers due to the swell. The normally slick and speedy process was delayed by several hours as the highly skilled coxswain fought against the waves and swell to bring passengers safely to shore.

Passengers alighted and attention was turned to the cargo and containers. Usually the RMS ways anchor on the right side of the bay, closest to the wharf and cranes. This visit was no different, but it soon became clear that the swell was forcing the ship to list precariously from side to side. For the first time since I arrived, the RMS had to be moved to the opposite side of James Bay where the Ocean was a little calmer. This resulted in it taking much longer to crane cargo off the ship onto the waiting pontoons and the pontoons still had to ‘run the gauntlet’ of waves to get the containers/vehicles etc safely onto the wharf.
All of this meant that when the RMS departed for Georgetown, Ascension Island a couple of days later, cargo that should have been offloaded was still on board.
Andy Crowe – Piccolo neighbour and Housing advisor here, is returning from oversea leave on the RMS when it returns from Ascension Island. Our cat sitting duties will cease – Jo will be pleased to see Andy, I am sure. Andy will be arriving with the new Chief Secretary Roy Burke and his wife, Jill.

Let’s hope it is nice and calm later today when the RMS arrives! The current voyage is V209. We will be leaving the Island for overseas leave on V212 – so close now
It also means that our dog sitting duties are also nearly up. The Governor, Mark Capes, will be on the RMS when it returns from Cape Town on 17th June. Wellington will return to his much more up-market residence of Plantation House, but I know he will miss playing with our two dogs. Housing status isn’t everything after all, for Sir Wellington Capes LOL

Posh Frocks and Medals

Garden Party at Plantation House
It was an honour to be invited to the Garden Party held in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday.
It was an afternoon of elegance. Dress: lounge suit or uniform, medals and decorations. Hats may be worn. So looking around the marquee where around 150 people mingled, it was full of style and class, everyone dressed perfectly for this grand event.
Photos courtesy of South Atlantic Media Services

Governor Mark Capes gave a short address honouring achievements by local people, followed by a toast to the Queen (who sadly was not present) Afternoon tea followed and all in all it was a lovely event to be invited too and a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon making new acquaintances with a fantastic backdrop of Plantation House on one side and Jonathan, the world’s oldest living creature on the other! Jonathan is now 182 years old!
A quick trip across the Island back to Longwood was now required in order to get changed, feed the dogs and prepare for the next party!
It’s probably hard to argue that it’s not Party Central here, given my recent posts! Since the middle of March we have had Andy Crowe’s ‘Piccolobury’ followed by Deanna Woosey’s 18th and our Silver Wedding celebrations. I think we had a week off somewhere before Rachel Armstrong’s 25th birthday bash at Bertram’s Cottage. We’ve been out to dinner several times too at the Sunflower café and with friends at Martin and Julie David’s for a great BBQ to name but a few. The final event to round April off was Tim Troman’s 50th birthday celebrations at Guinea Grass after the Garden Party.
So we headed back across the Island with neighbours Hazel and David Woosey for the birthday bash. We had a great evening and pretty much on form, we danced the evening away and were some of the last to leave!
Arriving home at Piccolo Hill, the house was in darkness – strange seeing as we had left the outside light on (its pitch black without it!) So we approached the house cautiously to find the doors all locked up and lights off. Suddenly the lights came on! Henry had gone into town with his friends and had beaten us home. He had assumed that his 'elderly' parents would be tucked up in bed asleep and had locked up! Luckily we arrived back before he had gone to bed.
We were up early on Sunday morning and took the opportunity to go for a morning walk through Plantation Forest with Smudge and Pippy. It was lovely and peaceful. Fortunately we had chosen to go in the morning as the afternoon turned out to be quite wet. We had a lazy afternoon and a beautiful Roast Pork dinner to finish off the weekend in style.

Our neighbour Mr Andy Crowe painted this wonderful picture of St Helena Island, which will be used to decorate the rooms where victims of crime are counselled - Fab Andy :-)

Easter and More

We’ve just finished a wonderful Easter break. Four days off with friends and family. Unlike Saints, I am not used to working almost an entire year without a break nor had I realised how much I needed a few days off! Due to the traveling logistics of getting away from St Helena, most Saints save their leave and it is not uncommon for some to have up to 100 days carried forward, although this is being addressed now with the advent of the airport construction. Currently to get to the UK, it is pretty much a week’s travel each way. Once the airport is functional, that should reduce to a day or two maximum. There will also (hopefully) be more than one opportunity to leave every few weeks!

Picture courtesy of the French Navy

So as leave is generally not taken, apart from the Christmas break, I have not had any leave, so it came as somewhat of a shock when I realised how much I needed to stop, if only for a few days – and had we been in the UK there would have been at least one holiday somewhere during the last 12 months. In fact the last short break we had was a couple of weeks before I left the UK in early May – France with Mandy and Dave.

On the Island a high proportion of Saints go camping for the 4 day Easter break and luckily for them, the weather was just right for camping. Henry had arranged to meet some friends at the Wharf steps on Good Friday and they were going to swim in the sea, before returning to our house in Piccolo Hill for a BBQ. I drove Henry down into Jamestown and although I knew most places closed on Good Friday, I wasn’t prepared for the total closure of the town. Not one business was open and a cruise ship was due in later – Main Street was like tumbleweed.
Although Henry had arranged to meet friends at 12, they all run on St Helena time, meaning the first of his friends didn’t arrive until after 12:30! Another arrived a few minutes later and after exchanging pleasantries with the other parents, I returned to Longwood for an afternoon of reading (something I haven’t done in a long time) I had arranged to pick Henry up at 15:30 and on arriving at the Wharf, the cruise ship was disembarking some of its passengers, although you have to question what exactly they were going to do in a deserted town.
Henry and friends duly deposited home and soon the house was filled with teenagers, music and the smell of BBQ’d food. It’s odd isn’t it that teenagers tell all their friends that they are having a BBQ, but it was Andy and I doing all the cooking then struggling to make out the sound on the TV above the loud bass music being played on the balcony. Everyone had a good time dancing, singing and eating during the evening, as well as a bit of dart playing.

Saturday is usually diving day for Andy and Henry, but as Anthony who owns Sub-Tropic Adventures was away camping with his young family, it was an opportunity to venture into town to do a spot of shopping! Luckily I didn’t need anything in particular as not much had opened and neither was there much to buy.
Monday started out a little drizzly, but cleared up quite quickly and a walk in Plantation Forest was needed, so we headed over with two very excited dogs for a lovely time walking in the forest under the cool canopy of trees and bamboo. The perfect end to a lovely Easter Weekend